Car-cover



2 Sheets- Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

I R. H. WYMAN.

OAR COVER.

n PETERS, Pmwumnm-r. wa-mman. 0.1:.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

' R. H. WYMAN.

GAR COVER.

Patented June v9', 1885. Efgr6.

PATENT @rrrcn.

RICHARD H. WYMAN', OF'E'VA'NSTON, ILLINOIS.

CAR-C arn errronrron forming part of Letter OVER.

5 Patent No. 319,944, dated June 9, 1885.

Application filed October 27,1884. (No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RICHARD H. 'WYMAN, of Evanston, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Oar Oovers, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in

Figure 1 is a side view of my improved car, showing the cover open. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, showing one-half of said cover open, with a portion broken away to show the winding-reel. Fig. 3 is a perspective view in detail of a portion of the slats which form the cover. Fig. 4 shows a part of two links of one of the endless chains for operating said covers. Fig. 5 is a perspective viewin detail, showing a part of one of the reels upon which said covers are wound. Fig. 6 is a plan view of said car, showing folding or movable braces for supporting the cover while closed. Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional view in detail of one side of the car, showing a modified form of brace for supporting said cover. Fig. Sis a like View illustrating the form of brace used in Fig. 6. Fig. 9 shows the same slightly modified in form, and Fig. 10 is a side View in detail, illustrating one means for securing said braces in position.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in the different figures. The purpose of my invention is to provide a movable car-cover which may be especially applied to coal and other freight cars, and which may be cheap in its construction and simple in its operation. A further object is to so dispose of said cover while the car is being loaded that the same may be protected from injury, which objects are accomplished in the manner hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the drawings,.A represents the box of an ordinary open freight-car, over the respective ends of which are built boxes B B, of sufficient height to readily clear whatever load may be placed within said car. Within the boxes B B, and supported in suitable bearings formed therein near the tops of said boxes, respectively, I place windlasses O 0, one of which is indicated in dotted lines upon the right in Fig. 2, the other, at the opposite end, being hidden by the slats of the cover rolled thereon, while Fig. 5 shows a portion of the same in detail. Each Windlass G is provided with cranks 0 0 upon the outside of the box B, and has secured thereto one end of a flexible cover, D D,- preferably formed in two sections from slats or strips of sheet metal loosely jointed to each other by means of rods (1, Fig. 3, around which said strips are rolled or bent, as clearly shown in said figure, said covers, which are of suflicient length when drawn out to meet at the middle of the car, being adapted to be rolled upon said windlasses, respectively, and hidden beneath said boxes.

Hinged to the sides of the car A by means of hinges a a a, Figs. 6, 7, and 8, are leaves or movable side boards, A A,secured in position by bolts a Fig. 2, which are adapted to be folded down upon the side of the car, as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 7, and 8. Upon the inside of each of the leaves A,l place sprocket-wheels EE E E, upon suitable wrist-pins or bearings, e e e e, rigidly attached to said leaves A. Over said sprocket-wheels are trained drive-chains F F. (Better shown in Fig. 2.) The wheels E are so placed upon the leaves A as to cause the top portion of the chains F to be even with the upper edge of the leaves A, the links of said chains being provided with lugs or projections f, Figs. 1 and 4, adapted to engage in slots 61 in the slats of the covers D. In the first slat, D, Figs. 2 and 3, of the cover the slots 01' d are cut entirely out at the ends, as shown in said figures, so that the last projection f may engage therewith when the covers are drawn back, and may be readily disengaged therefrom when the leaves A A are folded downward, as described. Each windlass G is provided upon its respective ends with gear-wheels c co 0, two of which are shown in Fig. 1, and one in Fig. 5, rigidly secured to said Windlass, and adapted to engage with corresponding gear-wheels, e eee, Fig. 2, which are rigidly attached to and revolve in unison with the sprocket-wheels E at the ends of said car. Each of the boxes B B is provided with an inner. projection, b b, Fig. 1, which is intended to serve as a protection to the projecting ends of the covers D when wound upon the reels 0, it being intended that said ends shall project sufficiently from said reels when the cover is withdrawn to enable the projections f of the chains F to engage therewith as described when said leaves A are raised. In order to support said cover in said position, as well as to prevent the same from being drawn too far backward, I provide four flanges, d one of which is shown in Fig. 5, upon the inside of the boxes B B, as shown in said last-named figure, and upon the slats D D of the cover I likewise form corresponding downwardly-projecting lugs, d", one of which is shown in. Fig. 3, adapted to engage with said projection d as the covers are drawn back and to limit said movement.

For obvious reasons it is important that said cover should be lightly constructed, and it may therefore be found necessary to support the same from beneath and midway between the ends of the slats. I prefer to accomplish this in the following manner: Upon the respective sides A of the car I place movable rafters or supports G, Figs. 6 to 10, inclusive, which are pivoted to straps g 9, Figs. 8, 9, and 10, so that said braces maybe closely folded lengthwise and against the sides of said car, as in Fig. 6, or above said side boards and in line therewith. Said braces or rafters are adapted to reach to or nearly to the middle of the car, and have pivotally secured to their respective ends bars H H, which are madesomewhat shorter than said car, so as to permit the same to be folded back over the side of the car without being brought in contact with said boxes B B. By extending one end of one of said bars to one of the reels and the other bar to the opposite reel and folding said bars in opposite directions from each other, as shown in Fig. 6, the bars H H together form a continuous support for the cover throughout the entire length of the car. Said braces G may be straight, as in Fig. 8, or bent, as in Fig. 9, in order the more effectually to clear the load. In the former case the bars H may be constructed of angle-iron, as shown in Fig. 8, and secured to the top of the rafters G, while in the latter they should be placed below and caused to project upward, as in Fig.

. 9, to be brought in continuous contact with the cover. A modification of said construction is shown in Fig. 7, in which the supports G are pivoted in bearings g g and swing over the side of the car like an ordinary crane. To secure the same in position when the covers are closed, I place lugs or projections h h upon the top of the bars H H, respectively, at the point where the covers D D meet, which,engaging with the edges of said covers, prevent a longitudinal movement of the bars H H while said covers are closed. In lieu of this device, jointed bars or braces J J, Fig. 10, may be secured to the rafters G G and to the side of the car, as shown in said figure, so as to fold with said rafters.

As the gearing is shown in the drawings it is obvious that the covers D D should roll middle, thus covering the car.

beneath rather than over the reel in order to accomplish the desired result. .1 It is likewise manifest that the entire cover may be made in ,ing the cranks c the covers D D are drawn out from the reels 0 C until they meet at the The sprocketwheels E and chains F may be covered by a suitable casing, provided that portion of the chain which engages with the cover, as well as the gear-wheels e, is not interfered with.

I prefer to attach brackets b b, Figs. 1 and 2,to the boxes B B, thus forming extensions or runways from one car to another.

Having thus described my invention,what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1. A movable cover for railway freightcars, consisting of two sections formed from a series of slats hinged to each other, one end of each section being attached to a reel at the end of the car, with suitable sprocket-wheels and drive-chains upon the sides of the car and geared to said reels for operating said covers, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. A car cover formed in two sections mounted upon reels at the respective ends of the car, suitable sprocket -wheels and drivechains upon the sides of the car for engaging saidcovers, and intermediate gearing connecting the same with said reels, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

3. In a car-cover, the flexible sections D D, mounted upon reels 0 O, inclosed in suitable boxes at the respective ends of the car, combined with drive-chains and suitable intermediate gearing upon the sides of the car for operating said cover, substantially as .described. I

4.. In combination with a flexible car-cover, substantially as described, the folding supports G H, arranged substantially as specitied.

5. The combination, with the box A of a freight-car, of the flexible winding covers D D, reels 0 C,with suitable supports, G H, beneath, arranged to be folded over the sides of the car when the cover is drawn back, substantially as described.

6. In a car-cover,the flexible sections D D, mounted upon suitable reels inclosed in boxes at the respective ends of the car, combined with drive-chains and suitable intermediate gearing upon the sides of the car, and folding. supports G H beneath said cover, all con structed and arranged substantially as and for the purposes specified.

7. A flexible car-cover consisting of one in said cover, all combined and constructed or more sections secured to a reel or reels at substantially as and for the purposes specified. the end or ends of the car, suitable sprocketwheels and drive-chains upon the sides of the RICHARD H. WYMAN. car, and connected by intermediate gears with Witnesses: said reel or reels, said chains being provided D. H. FLETCHER,

also with projections for engaging with slots CLARENCE B. STORY. 

